Bad idea: Booking it as the main event of a UFC Fight Night card on FOX Sports 2…because Machida main-eventing on that channel worked so well the first time.

Lyoto Machida vs. Gegard Mousasi is a fight that’ll make hardcore fans happy. It’s one of those matches where you can’t help but go “Hmm, I really wonder how that’s gonna play out,” when you hear that it’s been booked. That’s what we did at CagePotato HQ. We stroked our burgeoning beards and pondered who would win.

Crappy story coming out of Rio today, ‘Taters. Yan Cabral, the teammate of UFC champs Jose Aldo and Renan Barao who made an impressive debut for the promotion Wednesday night at UFC Fight Night 29, was robbed at gunpoint just two days later near his Nova Uniao gym in Rio. MMA Fighting‘s Guilherme Cruz first reported this story in the states.

The robbers either got real lucky or were following Cabral for some time as the undefeated Brazilian welterweight was coming from the bank where he had taken out money to pay manager and head coach Andre Pederneiras. Two men with guns pulled up on motorcycle, pointed a gun at Cabral’s head and took his backpack, containing his training gear and cash. Fortunately, Cabral was not injured during the robbery.

“I’ve lived in Rio 15 years and this never happened,” Cabral told O Dia. “It was a big shock.”

Edimilson “Kevin” Souza? Ramiro Hernandez Jr.? Elias Silvério? Ivan Jorge? Who are these guys? And how did two relatively obscure European prospects (Piotr Hallman, Ali Bagautinov) sneak onto the damn main card? The UFC has a bad habit of filling its Brazilian events with local scrappers in the hopes that Brazilian fans will cheer for anybody who’s Brazilian. And that’s fine for the prelims, but you also have to give people a reason to show up.

Glover Teixeira may not be enough of a reason, especially for those fans who were burned last year by a weak UFC event that was also low on star power. Sure, Glover was born in Minas Gerais, but he’s spent the last 14 years as a U.S. resident, and has been long associated with John Hackleman’s California-based fight camp The Pit. Exciting fighter? Absolutely. Local hero? Not exactly. Main event-caliber superstar? Definitely not. As for the co-main, Brazilian middleweight “Jacare” Souza is well-liked and usually entertaining; his opponent, Yushin Okami, is neither of those things.

Well, this is kinda cool. In today’s MMA career symmetry news, MMA Fighting speaks with UFC welterweight contender Demian Maia about returning to the arena where he first made a name for himself in MMA.

“Maia became famous in the MMA world on Oct. 7, 2006, when he dominated three opponents in one night to win the Super Challenge middleweight tournament. The event took place at Jose Correa Gymnasium, the same arena that will host UFN 29,” where Maia will fight Jake Shields, they report.

The Super Challenge middleweight tournament had names like Gustavo Machado, Fabio Nascimento, Alexandre Ferreira, Katel Kubis and Leonardo Nascimento involved. In the end, the underdog prevailed for the title.

“I thought ‘okay, let’s see what happens,’” said Maia. “Paulo Vasconcelos was the promoter and he invited me to fight. I said ‘I don’t know, give me a submission or jiu-jitsu fight, but he couldn’t find an opponent to fight me. Josuel Distak, who was one of my coaches at that time, said I’d win the tournament, so I basically was thrown in there by them.”

UFC Tonight did not specify what weight the fight would take place at; both men have campaigned at middleweight, light heavyweight and heavyweight in the past. However, it will be a safe bet that the TRT will be coursing freely through the veins of both future hall of famers, though, as Brazil ain’t exactly Nevada or New Jersey when it comes to drug testing credibility.

If Belfort agrees to the fight, it will be an interesting move given how fickle and picky he’s been with proposed match-ups in recent months. He’s turned down Tim Kennedy, ignored an offer from Lyoto Machida and said he wouldn’t fight at middleweight unless it was for the belt, before challenging Chael Sonnen (at what weight, no one knows). Sonnen accepted publicly but now it appears Belfort will go for Henderson — who is on a two-fight losing streak compared to Belfort’s two-fight win streak.

If you passed out shortly after staying up with our live event play by play of UFC 163 last night or missed the event entirely, make sure to check out highlights from the night’s biggest fights as well as the full post event press conference. Above, you can see The Korean Zombie hang tough against Jose Aldo until an apparent dislocated shoulder spelled the end for the challenger.

After the jump you can see highlights from the fight all Brazilians are bitching about this morning – Phil Davis winning a unanimous decision over Lyoto Machida. Listen to Daniel Cormier break down both fights and then check out what the night’s fighters had to say about it all at the post-event presser. Also, you’ll find out who won the night’s big bonus awards.

Tonight, UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo returns to his homeland to take on South Korean crowd-pleaser Chan Sung Jung — a name that has become synonymous with fast-paced brawls and insane finishes. Will Aldo end the night embraced in the sweaty arms of his countrymen, or will the Korean Zombie put a gruesome end to the champ’s 15-fight win streak?

CagePotato liveblogger supreme Anthony Gannon will be firing off round-by-round results from the “Aldo vs. Korean Zombie” main card after the jump, beginning at 10 p.m. ET / 7 p.m. PT. Refresh the page every few minutes for all the latest, and please drop your own thoughts in the comments section.

Are you ready for a behind the scenes look at recent the recent fights and training camps of Jose Aldo, The Korean Zombie (No, he does not have a real name any longer), Phil Davis and Lyoto Machida, all narrated by a gravely but comforting voice? I sure as heck am!

Watch the full Countdown to UFC 163 video above to hear UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo talk about the thrill of fighting in his home country of Brazil, hear Mr. Zombie talk about jet lag and acculturation, see video of NCAA Division I Wrestling Champion Phil Davis get pinned in his first ever match and watch, unable to look away, former light heavyweight champion Lyoto Machida drink liter after sudsy liter of his own urine.

In any case, Belfort’s wife/manager, Joana Prado, recently spoke on his behalf, telling Combate that the Kennedy matchup “didn’t make sense.” Which in today’sMMA landscape, means “give him a week to come around.”

It doesn’t make sense that Vitor, who is No. 1 in the rankings, should fight against No. 2, No. 6 or No. 10 in his weight class. His next fight in the middleweight class will be against the winner of Chris Weidman vs. Anderson Silva. If the UFC wishes him to fight in any class above middleweight, we are at their disposal. It can be anyone, Tim Kennedy, even Roy Nelson, but it has to be at 205 pounds or heavyweight – he’ll even fight as a heavyweight. Vitor wants to fight, but in his weight class, only if for the belt.

As oddly as that was worded, we kind of understand Belfort’s logic here.

We’re not saying that the UFC is reckless and stupid enough to endanger their hard-earned standing in the sports world as a legitimate sports promotion by booking Belfort in places where he can do things he couldn’t do elsewhere, but they are certainly fortunate that they have other marquee locale options other than Vegas to promote a star of his caliber. In any case, the fight will be a big opportunity for Kennedy to break into the top 5 or so of UFC middleweights.

Belfort is on a tear of late, with three straight knock out wins at middleweight, a submission win over Anthony Johnson at a fatcatchweight. The only guy who has beaten Belfort lately is Jon Jones – and Vitor almost broke that kid’s arm before losing.

What do you think, nation? Does Kennedy have what it takes to beat Belfort and move ahead in the middleweight division or will he get starched quickly like his former Strikeforce stablemate and foe, Luke Rockhold?